Does Your Ford Need a Brake Repair?

Weird noises, strange smells, or odd reactions when you brake are all signs of brake trouble. As your Ford dealer, we’d like you to know some signs that you need to bring your car into our service department for a brake repair.

Signs You Need a Brake Repair at Your Ford Dealer

Spongy Brakes

If your brake pedal goes almost to the floor when you step on it, you have spongy brakes. A brake pedal should always provide resistance as you depress it. A lack of resistance is a sign that you have a brake fluid leak. Brake fluid is essential for your braking system, as it provides the hydraulic power that allows your brakes to work.

Brake fluid can leak from several places, including the brake master cylinder, metal brake lines, or rubber brake hoses. Since the braking system is pressurized, it doesn’t take a large hole to cause a swift loss of fluid. Our technicians will examine your braking system and test each section until we find the leak. Once we find it, we’ll seal the hole to fix this problem.

Screeching and Grinding Sounds

Screeching sounds from the brakes is a sign that your brake pads are wearing out. Brake pads provide friction against the wheel rotors to stop your wheels. The friction material on the pads gradually wears off. A new pad is 1/2″ thick, but it will gradually wear down and then needs to be changed. When the pads are due for replacement, they’ll produce a high-pitched screeching sound.

Pads that aren’t replaced when they start screeching, the pads will continue to wear down. Once the friction material has worn off, the rough bare metal of the brake pad will grab the wheel rotor. This metal-on-metal contact creates a grinding noise. This grinding action also damages the rotors, as the metal pads score the rotor surface. We can easily replace screeching pads and we can fix damage caused to the rotors by resurfacing them.

Overheating Brake Fluid

As we saw above, your braking system is pressurized to provide sufficient power to stop your car. If you’re applying your brakes frequently or riding your brakes when driving in the city, older brake fluid can heat up. This is especially true if you’re driving under hot conditions. As the brake fluid heats up, it produces a strong chemical smell.

Overheating brakes is a sign to pull over ASAP and allow your brakes to cool. Overheated brake fluid loses its hydraulic properties, and your brakes could fail. We’ll replace the brake fluid and examine the system to check for any other problems.

If you’re worried about your brakes, call us right away at Ford of Upland.